Welcome back Pioneer fans!

Only having two practice days before leaving for Colorado, we got in the gym on Monday and Tuesday with a mission of getting our workouts done and being efficient as well.

We got to Colorado on Wednesday and had a relaxing day in the hotel. Thursday before the meet the team took a trip up to the Garden of the Gods. It was a beautiful day which helped the team relax a little bit before we took on the Air Force Falcons that night.

Although the meet at Air Force didn’t go exactly as planned, having to count two falls on bars, two on floor and one on beam, our vault team stood out and hit six for six. Freshman, Rashonda Cannie was our top vaulter, placing first with a 9.775. Sophomore Kristie Costa proved herself once again by tying her career-high best on vault with a 9.6, placing 2nd on bars with a 9.675, and winning beam with her career-high 9.8.

With a lesson learned and fire in our eyes, we walked into the meet at Denver like we were on a mission. We wanted to redeem ourselves and prove that we could come back from such a heart-breaking meet and compete like we know how.

We started off great on bars with our highest event score of the night, a 48.250. Costa led the team followed by seniors Brista Michael (9.675) and Amie Boles (9.625). We kept the ball rolling as we moved to vault. Mollie Blessing was our top vaulter scoring a 9.725 followed by two freshmen, Rashonda Cannie and Marcella Fallon, who both scored a 9.7. Our floor team also took a step forward coming off a bad night at Air Force. Cannie and Boles both recorded 9.75s. We ended the meet on beam, struggling to count two falls. With Costa getting ready to go after three falls in a row, she delivered an amazing performance and scored a 9.825 for the Pioneers. Senior Tonya Pipkorn, anchoring the event, got up and also delivered an outstanding performance matching Costa’s score of a 9.825.

We definitely ended that meet on a better note than we did at Air Force and we were proud of ourselves for turning the weekend around and ending on a high. We still have some work to do in the gym this week but as Coach always says, we have “our noses to the grindstone.”

This week we are at home with our five-team meet against Centenary, Winona State, Wisconsin-Whitewater and North Carolina State. Come check out the Pioneers as we take on these amazing teams Friday night at 6:00 p.m.

Go Pioneers!

Tonya Pipkorn
Senior
“Through our eyes, you see our hearts”